06-15-2015, 04:51 PM
A preliminary hearing was held today.
![[Image: 750x422]](http://www.trbimg.com/img-557f1e05/turbine/la-me-ln-mcstay-hearing-20150615-001/750/750x422)
Chase Merritt is no longer representing himself; he now has a team of four defense attorneys.
EVIDENCE COLLECTED AT GRAVE SITE: It was revealed that Josheph McStay's remains were found wrapped in a white woven blanket. He had a hole on the left side of his head, and he had white extension cord tied around his neck. Summer McStay's clothes and some blue children's pants and a diaper were also found at the desert grave site.
MURDER WEAPON? A sledgehammer was recovered from the grave site too. Joseph, Summer, and Gianni McStay were killed by multiple blows to the head. Police appear to believe the sledgehammer is the murder weapon. (3-year-old Joey Jr's remains were too scant to determine a cause of death.)
POSSIBLE MOTIVE / CRIME SCENE COVER-UP: One of Merritt's lawyer's started lodging his defense in the press today. He contends that LE has no evidence to support what he believes will be the prosecutor's theory, namely that Joseph found out Merritt was writing checks to himself and stealing from the company, so he killed the family in their home with a sledgehammer and then painted the walls to cover signs of the crime.
The attorney said that there was paint found on the buried sledgehammer, but it doesn't match the paint from the house. He also indicated that there was no evidence tying his client to the crimes.
I wonder if the sledgehammer and extension cord belonged to Chase Merritt or the McStays? I'm also curious to hear more about Chase Merritt's phone records and cell ping locations around the time of the crime and the cover up.
Refs:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me...story.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...esert.html
Chase Merritt is no longer representing himself; he now has a team of four defense attorneys.
EVIDENCE COLLECTED AT GRAVE SITE: It was revealed that Josheph McStay's remains were found wrapped in a white woven blanket. He had a hole on the left side of his head, and he had white extension cord tied around his neck. Summer McStay's clothes and some blue children's pants and a diaper were also found at the desert grave site.
MURDER WEAPON? A sledgehammer was recovered from the grave site too. Joseph, Summer, and Gianni McStay were killed by multiple blows to the head. Police appear to believe the sledgehammer is the murder weapon. (3-year-old Joey Jr's remains were too scant to determine a cause of death.)
POSSIBLE MOTIVE / CRIME SCENE COVER-UP: One of Merritt's lawyer's started lodging his defense in the press today. He contends that LE has no evidence to support what he believes will be the prosecutor's theory, namely that Joseph found out Merritt was writing checks to himself and stealing from the company, so he killed the family in their home with a sledgehammer and then painted the walls to cover signs of the crime.
The attorney said that there was paint found on the buried sledgehammer, but it doesn't match the paint from the house. He also indicated that there was no evidence tying his client to the crimes.
I wonder if the sledgehammer and extension cord belonged to Chase Merritt or the McStays? I'm also curious to hear more about Chase Merritt's phone records and cell ping locations around the time of the crime and the cover up.
Refs:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me...story.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...esert.html